Understanding your stress is the first step to anxiety relief

We encounter stress in our lives on a daily basis. Many things cause stress and our reaction to these external stressors is the key to whether or not we feel anxiety. For example, many people find social situations particularly unnerving and this can have a lot to do with your state of mind. If you think that meeting new people can be fun and you are excited about hearing new stories and new opinions, then a visit to a friend’s family gathering could be a source of positive stress. However, if the thought of spending time with new people puts you on edge and makes you self-conscious, nervous and hesitant, then this is a source of negative stress for you.

There are other regular and unavoidable external stressors that cause anxiety on a daily basis.

If you know that social situations are a source of stress and anxiety, you can manage to avoid them on occasion and therefore avoid the symptoms that affect you. Unfortunately, there are many regular daily stressors that cause anxiety and they cannot be avoided. These are things like financial burdens, an extremely heavy workload at your job, relationship complications, a medical condition affecting yourself or a loved one and even the death of a loved one. These stressors are real and cannot be avoided. The problem is the feeling of fear, worry, or nervousness that highlights this anxiety can lead to more serious medical conditions so it is extremely important to handle this stress effectively and avoid terrible consequences.

Stress prevention is the key to anxiety relief

There are many natural ways to successfully handle the day to day stressors that cause anxiety and provide yourself with some relief of the terrible symptoms. As mentioned above, knowing your stressors is the first step to handling them well enough to avoid anxiety. The first tip is to change the way you view these things in your life. It is proven that positive thought and a good outlook on life goes a long way to fight the effects of stress and anxiety. Think positively to lighten your mood and you will feel better almost immediately.

The second tip to handle stress and anxiety better is to manage your time to be more efficient. Proper time management will not only relieve you of the pressure you feel when your schedule is extremely tight, but it may provide you with additional free time to spend doing things you love – that in itself will go a long way towards relieving stress and therefore relieving anxiety. Organize your schedule and put your things to do in priority order. Evaluate your daily tasks and remove things that waste time. Instead of stopping for coffee on the way to work, make coffee at home. Not only will this small change help you save money, you will gain at least 10 minutes every morning. Other time wasters are things like looking for lost keys or trying to remember what you need to buy at the grocery store. Try setting a designated area for your keys and always putting them there. Also, keep a list by the refrigerator for groceries and add to it as things come to mind. This will help you avoid several trips to the grocery store each week, thus saving hours of time.

Thirdly, regular exercise is extremely important. Many say there is just not enough time in the day to add exercise to their regular schedule. But, after prioritizing your schedule and removing those things that waste time, you are surely to find there is plenty of time to exercise on a regular basis. Not only will exercise relieve stress and make you feel significantly better, it helps to alleviate and prevent many physical ailments. For instance, chronic fatigue can be a symptom of stress and anxiety as well as a lack of physical activity. Take a walk, park your car far away from your destination, ride your bicycle when you pick up the newspaper on Sunday morning. There are many things one can do to incorporate even a little exercise into an otherwise busy day.

The fourth tip, which is fairly intuitive, is to get enough sleep. A minimum of seven hours of sleep is imperative. Anything less can be extremely detrimental if performed on a regular basis. Be careful not to exceed nine hours of sleep each night as this can be counterproductive. It seems improbably that too much sleep would be a bad thing, but studies show that the optimum amount of sleep is between seven and nine hours each night.

And, lastly, laughter is the best medicine. Humor is a wonderful way to relieve stress and alleviate the anxiety that is so detrimental and can even be debilitating. Essentially, try not to take everything so seriously and you’ll do well to find the humor in everyday circumstances.